Once more Kosovo

Almost five years since the fighting ceased and NATO troops were sent in to pacify the region, conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has flared up once again. This renewed conflict confirms everything we have said about Kosovo and the wider problems affecting the whole of the Balkans. The fundamental problems have not been resolved. They have been simmering below the surface.

Kosovo is once more in the headlines. Almost five years since the fighting
ceased and NATO troops [later to become "UN troops"] were sent in to pacify the
region, conflict between Serbs and Kosovar Albanians has flared up once again.

The violent clashes were sparked off by two events. In the village of
Caglavica, near Pristina, a Serbian youth was allegedly wounded in a drive-by
shooting. Then in a separate incident three Albanian boys drowned in the River
Ibar. This is the river that divides the town of Mitrovica with the Kosovar
Albanians living to its south and the Serbian minority of Kosovo living to its
north. According to the Albanians the children were being chased by Serbians
when they drowned.

These two events led to an explosion of anger on both sides of the ethnic
divide. Armed gangs on both sides started firing at each other. Serbian enclaves
were attacked in other parts of Kosovo. Beyond Kosovo, in Belgrade a mosque was
burnt out. The same thing happened in Nis.

The death toll so far in these clashes in Kosovo has reached 31 people, and
apparently 500 have been injured. The UN has responded by increasing its forces
in Kosovo, hoping to stem the rising tide of ethnic conflict. But in spite of
increased UN troops, last night ethnic Albanians were still fighting their Serb
neighbours in Lipljan, in eastern Kosovo Thus the violence seems set to
continue.

This renewed conflict confirms everything we have said about Kosovo and the
wider problems affecting the whole of the Balkans. Although there have been more
than five years of so-called peace, the fundamental problems have not been
resolved. They have been simmering below the surface. The fact that UN troops
could not leave confirms this.

Ninety per cent of Kosovo's population is made up of ethnic Albanians. At the
end of the conflict in 1999 many ethnic Serbs were pushed out of Kosovo, but not
all of them left. About 100,000 remained behind, but they have been living in
enclaves, the biggest of which is in the north of the province.

The UN has been saying that things were getting better, but this ignored the
real process that was developing. After Milosevic was forced to pull his troops
out of Kosovo the Kosovar Albanians were hoping for formal independence. But
this was something the imperialists were not prepared to concede. Thus Kosovo
has been in a kind of limbo – not part of Yugoslavia in practice, but part of
it in theory. In reality it had become a UN (or NATO) protectorate.

The Kosovar nationalists, in particular the KLA, collaborated with NATO in
pushing out Milosevic's troops, but we explained that they would have a bitter
lesson in the trustworthiness of the imperialists. The latter used the ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo as pawns in their plans to weaken Milosevic. Once they had
they used them for this purpose they were prepared to discard them like an old
useless rag. Now the Kosovar Albanians feel betrayed by NATO and the UN. Over
the past few months the Kosovar Albanians were becoming more and more fearful
that they would be forced back into Serbia proper.

This was always implicit in the situation. Imperialism cannot tolerate the
idea of an independent Kosovo. The reason for this is that this would further
destabilise the region. For the ethnic Albanians to achieve independence from
Serbia would encourage the ethnic Albanians in neighbouring Macedonia to move in
the same direction. The logic would be to move towards a "Greater Albania",
bringing together Albania proper, together with Kosovo and the northwestern
strip of Macedonia dominated by ethnic Albanians.

This would mean spreading the conflict to Macedonia, where there is also an
Albanian-speaking minority. There is also a Serbian minority in the north of
Macedonia. In such a scenario Serbia would not stand idly by, and Greece also
has made it clear over the years that it would not tolerate such a situation.
Turkey also has indicated that it would "help" Bulgaria, which claims Macedonia
as its own. From a small spark a general conflagration could ensue involving
Serbia, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Turkey and Bulgaria. Turkey and Greece would
be on opposite sides. But Greece and Turkey are supposed to be "allies" as they
are both part of NATO. Thus an important flank of NATO could be weakened.

In Serbia we have the presidential elections coming up this Spring and the
Kosovo question is being used to try and whip up national chauvinism. The Serbs
in Kosovo have become the oppressed minority, living in enclaves under constant
threat of being attacked. This has given the ultra-nationalist Radical Party in
Serbia something to get its teeth into. Tomislav Nikolic, the leader of the
party seems set to become Serbia's new president in elections due to be held
this spring. And none of the other parties is prepared to be seen as "betraying"
the Serbs in Kosovo. They all proclaim that one day Kosovo will return to
Serbia. They are all cynically using this question for their own electoral ends.

In Belgrade, Serbia's new conservative-nationalist prime minister, Kostunica,
has called for the "cantonisation" of Kosovo, which would mean the de facto
partition of Kosovo, and at some stage the northern Serbian enclave of Kosovo
could be annexed to Serbia proper. The Kosovar Albanians, obviously do not look
too kindly on this possible scenario.

While in Serbia the nationalists have been beating the drums, in Kosovo the
Albanian political leaders over the last eight months have been developing an
increasingly angry anti-UN rhetoric. In fact in the recent clashes the UN "peacekeepers"
have come under attack from Albanian youth. Albanian rioters have been seen
attacking Finnish peacekeepers who were protecting Serbian enclaves, hurling
stones and Molotov cocktails at the troops. This is ironic if we remember how
the NATO troops were supposed to be the "saviours" of the Albanians who had come
to "protect" them five years ago. There are reports that some of the UN troops
have been injured.

Thus we see how even the presence of 17,000 UN "peacekeepers" can at best
maintain a semblance of peace, so long as there is no conflict! Once conflict
erupts in a serious way they prove to be totally useless. Reports describe the
UN troops as being "bewildered". As today's The Independent in Britain says, "Whoever
was behind that agenda has certainly succeeded in nullifying the UN's attempts
to build bridges between Serbs and Albanians over the past four years." This is
referring to the organised simultaneous attacks on Serbian enclaves in Kosovo.

Thus the nationalists on both sides have been stoking the fires of ethnic
hatred. The US imperialists, but also the European Union, must be worried at
what is happening. They have enough on their plate with the conflict in
Israel/Palestine and the situation in Iraq.

That explains why they have hurriedly sent in extra troops. The British alone
have provided a further 750. This may serve to hold the situation a little
longer, but it cannot resolve the underlying contradictions. As The Independent
said, "A few hundred extra Nato peace-keepers may put the lid back on Kosovo's
cauldron for the next few weeks or months, but without twin-track progress both
on Kosovo's economy and on its final status, what we are seeing now is no more
than a holding operation."

The question of the "status" of Kosovo is inextricably linked the economic
situation facing the area. The population of Kosovo is overwhelmingly made up of
youth. But unemployment stands at the staggering level of 70%. There are large
numbers of unemployed youth on both sides of the ethnic divide. In fact the same
article in The Independent states that, "Much of the tension of recent
days would have dissipated if people had jobs…"

This confirms what we have always said; at bottom the national question is
one of bread. If people had decent jobs and wages, decent housing, decent
education and all the other things that make for a civilised existence national
conflicts would gradually disappear over time. Instead as one official in
Pristina (the capital of Kosovo) recently explained, "No one in UNMIK [UN
Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo] is even thinking about the economy.
They don't even have any economic experts here."

Instead what we have is the international monitors making sure that ethnic
parity in local government bodies is guaranteed. This means they are applying
the concept of guaranteed quotas in handing out the few jobs that there are.
What this means is that both Serbs and Albanians will feel resentful because
they feel the jobs are being taken by the "others". In effect it means the UN is
simply sharing out the poverty equally between the two communities.

Thus the social conditions in Kosovo provide an explosive mix. Huge levels of
unemployment together with the memory of the killing that took place on both
sides just five years ago means that anything can spark off ethnic conflict.
What we have here is many powder kegs ready to go off, and one could spark off
the others. So long as the economic situation does not change then ethnic
conflicts will continue to erupt in the region.

Imperialism, whether under the NATO or the UN umbrellas, cannot solve the
problem. They are part of the cause. Let us not forget that one (although not
the only one) of the factors that led to the break up of the former Yugoslav
Federation was the interference of imperialist powers such as Germany (but not
only) in the internal affairs of the country. The other factor was the serious
economic impasse facing the old regime. The bureaucracy could not develop the
means of production any longer. This led to nationalist tensions being fomented
by the regional bureaucrats in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and so on. This led to
the final collapse of Yugoslavia. What we are witnessing in these days in Kosovo
is a consequence of the break-up of the old federation.

However, in spite of all its failings and lack of genuine workers' democracy,
it was during the best period of the Yugoslav Federation under Tito that the
national question receded into the background. In spite of all the terrible
ethnic conflict and killing of the period of the Second World War, on the basis
of the nationalised and planned economy of the period of the 1950s through to
the mid 1970s the economy was able to develop at quite a fast pace. This was the
basis that allowed for the different peoples of the Federation to live
peacefully together. Housing, decent healthcare and education were at least
available to all. Most people had jobs. Of course, there were also the seeds of
the future economic crisis that were embodied in the bureaucratic mismanagement
of the economy.

What we had with the old Yugoslav Federation was a glimpse of what could be.
On the basis of economic development the national question had been partially
resolved. The problem was the lack of workers' control and workers' democracy in
the system. The decisions were not taken by the workers but by the bureaucrats.
This meant the inevitable downfall of the system.

Today we have the national question back with all its virulence. What the
Serbs, not only in Kosovo but also in Serbia itself, the Kosovar Albanians, the
Croats and so on, urgently need is a solution to the economic disaster they are
facing. On the basis of capitalism they can only expect more of the same,
unemployment, bad housing, privatisation of education, privatisation of
healthcare and so on. In these conditions poor worker will be pitted against
poor worker. Brothers and sisters will be pushed into conflict by the
nationalists on all sides.

What is needed is a political force capable of uniting the workers of the
whole of the former Yugoslav Federation in a common struggle against capitalism.
This would also have to spread further to the workers of Bulgaria, Romania,
Greece, Albania, Turkey…Left in the hands of the bourgeois the peoples of
these countries can only expect more ethnic conflict and wars. The situation can
temporarily calm down, but the embers keep burning beneath the surface.

It is the working class of all these countries that can offer a way out. It
is the task of genuine Socialists, genuine Communists – the Marxists – in
all these countries to work for the building of a current within the labour
movement that can bring back the traditions of united class struggle of all
these people. That is the only way of making sure that conflicts like the one
taking place now do not flare up into something worse and engulf the whole
region.